Overview - Launch of the New 52

With dwindling/stalled sales, in October 2010, some of DC Comics lead executives and creative talents came together to discuss how to put a jolt of energy into their entire comics line. The fruits of this meeting were revealed in June 2011 with DC announcing the New 52, a line-wide relaunch of all their titles. Starting in September 2011, following the end of Flashpoint, DC would launch 52 titles all starting at #1. Along with a number of brand new titles, many titles were relaunched versions of classic books like Action and Detective Comics. The initiative was an effort to get people excited about comics, attracting new, current, and old readers with easy jumping on points with 52 new #1 issues. The New 52 also saw DC's launch of day and date digital release of all their titles.

The initiative launched on August 31st, when on the same day Flashpoint #5 was released, DC also released Justice League #1, written by DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns, and drawn by Co-Publisher Jim Lee. Due to the effect of the ending of Flashpoint, both the Vertigo and Wildstorm Universes were merged into the DC Universe, starting the whole universe anew. This would be explored in Justice League, with the first six issues being set five years in the past, where the concept of super-heroes were new to the world, delving into the new origin of the Justice League. Besides arcs in Justice League and Action Comics, as well as a hand full of specific time period books, the rest of the line would be set in the present.

The relaunch wasn't merely cosmetic, many of DC's properties were re-imagined or refreshed. Changes to current characters ranged from minor tweaks, to complete reboots. Due to sales being generally high on both the Batman and Green Lantern franchises prior to the initiative, much of those family of characters' continuity remained the same. Some books, like Green Lantern, directly following the events of War of the Green Lanterns, the final story arc of the previous volume of the book; meanwhile, the new Teen Titans explores the first meeting of the team, effectively erasing the history of the previous modern day Teen Titans. In other cases, characters were brought in from different universes, such as with Voodoo, Grifter, Midnighter, Apollo, and more from the Wildstorm universe.

All the New 52 titles were put into one of seven groups, or "families" of similarly related books. The first family was Justice League, that featured the JL titles and many traditional super hero books except the big three that have their own group. The Batman family contained all the books about Batman and his allies like Nightwing, Batgirl, etc., as well as Detective Comics. The Superman family contained all the book about Superman and his allies like Supergirl and Superboy, as well as Action Comics. Green Lantern featured all the books revolving around the various Lantern Corps. The Dark featured books whose characters were more magic or mystic based. The Edge featured characters with more of a hardline, action oriented setup. Finally, Young Justice featured titles involving many of the DCU's teenage heroes, such as the Teen Titans.

The aftermath of Convergence will see an end to The New 52 imprint, however the continuity established within the branding will continue onward in the future. After the event wraps up, beginning on June 3, 2015 and lasting throughout June and July, the DC Comics line of comic books will consist of 24 brand-new series that will begin at issue number one. Alongside these new additions, the company will continue publishing 25 of their existing ongoing titles, all of which will maintain their current numbering and storylines. See - DC You

*NOTE*: Titles are arranged by release date, THEN alphabetically. Also, current ongoing titles are marked with an asterisk.

First Wave

Justice League* - Written by Geoff Johns, with art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams.

Action Comics* - Written by Grant Morrison, with art by Rags Morales and Rick Bryant.

Animal Man - Written by Jeff Lemire, with art by Travel Foreman and Dan Green.

Batgirl* - Written by Gail Simone, with art by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes.

Convergence #0-8 - Written by Dan Jurgens and Jeff King, with art by Ethan Van Sciver.

Zero Month: September 2012

"Zero Month" immediately followed with every DC Universe title published being numbered issue "#0", and featuring the slogan, "The Beginning of Tomorrow!". DC have since repeated this idea with The New 52's "Zero Month", a year after the start of the initiative.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Action Comics #0

Batgirl #0

Batwoman #0

All-Star Western #0

Animal Man #0

Batman #0

Birds of Prey #0

Aquaman #0

Batwing #0

Batman and Robin #0

Blue Beetle #0

Batman, Incorporated #0

Detective Comics #0

Deathstroke (vol. 2) #0

Captain Atom #0

Batman: The Dark Knight #0

Dial H #0

Demon Knights #0

Catwoman #0

I, Vampire #0

Earth 2 #0

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #0

DC Universe Presents: #0

Justice League Dark #0

G.I. Combat #0

Green Lantern Corps #0

Green Lantern: New Guardians #0

Red Lanterns #0

Green Arrow #0

Grifter #0

Justice League #0

Superman #0

Green Lantern #0

Legion Lost #0

Legion of Super-Heroes #0

Talon #0

Stormwatch #0

Resurrection Man #0

Nightwing #0

Teen Titans (vol. 4) #0

Swamp Thing #0

Suicide Squad #0

Red Hood and the Outlaws #0

The Flash #0

The Phantom Stranger #0

Superboy #0

Supergirl #0

The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #0

Worlds' Finest #0

Team 7 #0

Sword of Sorcery #0

The Savage Hawkman #0

The Ravagers #0

Wonder Woman #0

Voodoo #0

Villains Month: September 2013

For the month of September, in conjunction with Forever Evil, approximately one third of the ongoing titles at the time published multiple "Villains Month" issues, while the rest skipped publication. All titles used the "point" system, replacing the current number system, which resumed in October 2013. Titles were known by both their normal publication title, as well as their "Villains Month" title. Each book features 3D lenticular motion covers on the front and back of the title.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Action Comics #23.1 Cyborg Superman #1

Action Comics #23.2 Zod #1

Action Comics #23.2 Lex Luthor #1

Action Comics #23.4 Metallo #1

Batman #23.1 Joker #1

Aquaman #23.1 Black Manta #1

Batman #23.3 Penguin #1

Aquaman #23.2 Ocean Master #1

Batman: The Dark Knight #23.1 Ventriloquist #1

Batman #23.2 Riddler #1

Batman: The Dark Knight #23.3 Clayface #1

Batman #23.4 Bane #1

Batman and Robin #23.1 Two-Face #1

Batman: The Dark Knight #23.2 Mr. Freeze #1

Batman and Robin #23.3 Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins #1

Batman/Superman #3.1 Doomsday #1

Detective Comics #23.1 Poison Ivy #1

Batman and Robin #23.2 Court of Owls #1

Detective Comics #23.3 Scarecrow #1

Batman: The Dark Knight #23.4 Joker's Daughter #1

Earth 2 #15.1 Desaad #1

Detective Comics #23.2 Harley Quinn #1

Green Lantern #23.3 Blackhand #1

Batman and Robin #23.4 Killer Croc #1

Green Arrow #23.1 Count Vertigo #1

Earth 2 #15.2 Solomon Grundy #1

Justice League #23.3 Dial E #1

Detective Comics #23.4 Man-Bat #1

Green Lantern #23.1 Relic #1

Green Lantern #23.2 Mongul #1

Justice League Dark #23.2 Eclipso #1

Green Lantern #23.4 Sinestro #1

Justice League #23.1 Darkseid #1

Justice League #23.2 Lobo #1

Justice League of America #7.3 Shadow Thief #1

Justice League #23.4 Secret Society #1

Justice League Dark #23.1 The Creeper #1

Justice League of America #7.2 Killer Frost #1

Superman #23.3 H'El #1

Justice League of America #7.4 Black Adam #1

Justice League of America #7.1 Deadshot #1

Superman #23.2 Brainiac #1

Swamp Thing #23.1 Arcane #1

Superman #23.4 Parasite #1

Superman #23.1 Bizarro #1

Teen Titans (vol. 4) #23.1 Trigon #1

Teen Titans (vol. 4) #23.2 Deathstroke #1

Wonder Woman #23.2 First Born #1

The Flash #23.1 Grodd #1

The Flash #23.2 Reverse-Flash #1

The Flash #23.3 The Rogues #1

Wonder Woman #23.1 Cheetah #1

The New 52: Futures End: September 2014

In February 2014, DC announced that as part of the celebration of The New 52's third anniversary, all ongoing titles published in September 2014 feature stories that tie in to The New 52: Futures End.

Titles were released as [Title]: Futures End #1. For example, Batman '​s issue released as Batman: Futures End #1.

The Flash: Futures End #1 - Written by Robert Venditti and Van Jensen, with art by Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, and Andrew Dalhouse.

The Multiversity by Grant Morrison: August 2014 - April 2015

The Multiversity features a new story about the multiverse being invaded by a race of demonic destroyers known as the Gentry. Various heroes from across different universes are forced to band together to face this inter-dimensional threat, initiating the "Battle for All Creation".

Convergence: April 2015 - May 2015

Convergence spins out of the final issues of the weekly series, Earth 2: World's End and The New 52: Futures End. The story involves Brainiac having trapped cities from various timelines and planets that have ended, brought them in domes to a planet outside of time and space, and "is now opening them for a great experiment to see what happens when all these folks meet."

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